Clumsy Pepper, Working Tony
by vjpotter0
Summary: Pepper falls down the stairs and Tony has some work to do for SHIELD... (im not good at summaries :P enjoy :) ))
1. Chapter 1

**this is my first fanfic :) i would love it if you guys could read it and leave reviews on if i should continue it :) (i changed the format so hopefully its easier to read :) )) i would really appreciate if you guys didn't steal my work :)**

"Tony?! Tony where are you?!" Pepper yelled.

"I'm in the lab," replied Tony, "why?!"

"I was trying to move the table downstairs but I lost my footing and fell." Pepper yelled back. Tony dashed upstairs. "Be careful Tony," Pepper said, "there's a lot of glass…"

"Okay Pepper," Tony said trying to sound calm. He couldn't help but feel dizzy looking at Pepper's leg which was bent 90 degrees farther to the side than it should be and was covered in blood from the shards of glass stuck deep in her leg. "I'm going to try to get the glass out of your leg." He grabbed a pair of needle nose pliers and dug the glass out of Pepper's leg. She occasionally had to stifle a scream when Tony dug out the big pieces. "I have to get you to a hospital," Tony said, "This is one thing that I can't fix on my own."

"Oh Tony," Pepper begged, "Can't you call Fury or Bruce? They can fix my leg right? Oh! I hate going to hospitals."

"I suppose I could call Banner but he might not be able to help." Tony replied. He picked Pepper up and, being careful not to hit anything, laid her on the couch. "I'm going to go call Banner and also get you some ice," Tony said, "you just stay here and try to relax I'll be right back."He picked up the phone and searched the caller ID for Bruce Banner. The phone rang for what seemed like forever considering the circumstances.

"Hello?"

"Hey Bruce! It's Tony, listen I need your help."

"Sure, what's up?" replied Bruce.

"Its Pepper… she fell down the stairs and her leg is bent about 90 degrees farther than it should be. She doesn't want to go to a hospital so I thought maybe you could help."

"Well I wont know how much I will be able to do until I see her, but I'll do what I can," Bruce said, I'll be there in half an hour."

"Thank you so much, Bruce!" replied Tony. He then went to the kitchen, grabbed some ice from the freezer and rushed back to where Pepper was laying on the couch. "I got you some ice," Tony said, "Banner should be here in half an hour."

"Thanks babe." Replied Pepper.

*knock* *knock* "Bruce!" Tony said exasperated, "Thanks for coming so quickly!"

"No problem," Bruce replied, "So where's Pepper?"

"She's on the couch in a lot of pain" Tony said with a worried look on his face. They walked over to the couch.

"Hi Pepper." Bruce said smiling.

"Bruce!" Pepper replied, trying to sound upbeat, "I'm so glad you're here." Bruce looked at her leg which was swollen and very bruised. It was also bloody from the glass.

"Hmmm… Tony I'm going to need your help, okay?"

"Of course," Tony said, "just tell me what to do."

"What I need you to do is very simple," Bruce replied, "just sit by Pepper and if she starts to move while I am moving her leg back into place then you have to hold her down."

"Um… Okay" said Tony hesitantly. He sat down next to Pepper and waited for further instructions.

"Alright guys, here's what's going to happen," Bruce explained, "On go I'm going to move Pepper's leg until we hear a pop. Tony you know what to do. Also I need you to hand me those wooden boards when I ask for them. I will then put the boards on both sides of your leg, Pepper. Those will hold your leg in place until Tony can build a metal cast. Also, one last thing… Pepper, this is probably going to hurt so be prepared… Okay 1… 2… 3… go"

Right away, Pepper screamed out in pain. "OWWW! Tony!"

"I'm right here Pep, I'm right here." Tony said soothingly. They all heard the distinct pop of Pepper's leg.

"Good," said Bruce, "Hand me the boards, Tony." Tony stood up, grabbed the boards, handed them to Bruce, and went back to sit next to Pepper. Bruce took the boards and laid one on each side of Pepper's leg. Then he took ropes and tied them around Pepper's leg and the boards. Pepper winced every time Bruce tightened a knot. Together he and Tony carried Pepper upstairs to her bed.

"Okay Pep, Banner and I are going to leave so you can get some rest. We'll be downstairs if you need anything.

"So now what?" Tony asked Bruce as they headed downstairs.

"Now," Bruce replied, "We work on the cast until we have to leave."

"Wait! Leave? What do you mean?" Tony questioned.

"Fury wants us to help him with something. I don't know details. All I know is that he wants us to be at SHIELD headquarters by tomorrow morning." Replied Bruce.

"But what about Pepper?!" Tony yelled, "She can't get up to do anything!"

"Tony, calm down," Bruce said, "Why don't you just call Fury? He might be understanding."

"Fury being understanding?! Yeah right!" yelled Tony.

"Well it's worth a shot" Said Bruce calmly.

"I guess" said Tony irritated. He picked up the phone and dialed Fury's number. "Fury?" Tony asked.

"Stark! Did you get the message from Banner?" Fury replied.

"Um… yeah… about that…" Tony stuttered, "Um… well… Pepper kind of tripped while going down the stairs and her leg was bent at an odd angle and there were shards of glass in her leg and everywhere on the ground."

"That sounds terrible," Said Fury, "But I still need you to come. This is more important."

"Nothing is more important to me than Pepper," replied Tony, "I need to stay here to take care of her."

"I'll give you one extra day… But you better be here then." Fury said and hung up.

"Well?" Bruce asked, "What did he say?"

"He gave me an extra day and said that this was more important than me staying home to take care of Pepper." Tony replied, "So… what exactly are we making for Pepper?"

"We are making a high-tech cast. We need two metal pieces that will snap into place around her leg. It needs to be padded and have some sort of system that will ice her leg when needed." Bruce explained.

"Okay, let's get started." Tony said. He grabbed two metal pieces and began to form them into the two pieces for the cast. Bruce started on assembling the cooling system that would run through the padding attached to the metal pieces. When they had finished they put the pieces together and carried it upstairs to Pepper. Tony gently lifted Pepper's leg while Bruce slid the bottom piece of the cast under it. Tony carefully laid Pepper's leg in the cast and cautiously snapped the top piece on.

"It's a little tight." Pepper said.

"That's because your leg is swollen," Bruce explained, "Push that button."

"Oh my god its cold!" Pepper said.

"Yes Pepper it is cold." Tony said in a condescending way.

"Shut up Tony," Pepper replied, "I mean it's REALLY cold."

"You can adjust the setting with that dial." Bruce said laughing.

"Okay thanks guys" Pepper said.

"Well I should probably get going," Bruce said, "I hope you feel better Pepper."

"Thanks again Bruce!" Pepper said.

"No problem," he said, "I'll see you soon Tony."

"Uh… yeah." Tony said.

After Banner had left, Pepper asked tony "what did Bruce mean when he said that he'd see you later?"

"Oh um yea well… Fury needs us to come in to do something... I don't know what yet," Tony replied, "I told him that I needed to stay here to take care of you but he only gave me and extra day before I have to be at Headquarters. I'm sorry Pep."

"It's ok babe, I understand," Pepper replied, "I mean you're Iron Man, I can't have you all to myself."

"I wish you could." Tony said as he carefully crawled into bed next to Pepper and they both fell asleep.

The next morning Pepper woke up to the smell of Pancakes and bacon. "Tony, are you cooking?!" Pepper yelled down the stairs.

"I guess you could say that," Tony yelled back, "JARVIS is controlling the heat and time."

"Well it smells delicious," Pepper said, "I'll be right down."

"No you won't," Tony argued, "I'll bring breakfast to you."

"You spoil me, Tony." Pepper laughed. He brought a plate of buttermilk pancakes and bacon up to Pepper.

"I'll be downstairs," Tony said, "if you need anything just call." Pepper was enjoying her breakfast while watching TV when she heard a noise downstairs.

"Tony? Are you vacuuming?" Pepper asked.

"Yeah," Tony responded, "I want to get as much done as possible before I have to leave."

"Well I want you to come up here and lay with me," Pepper said smiling to herself, "I want to be with you as much as possible before you have to leave."

"That sounds better than cleaning." Tony said chuckling. Pepper heard footsteps going upstairs and smiled. "Hey Pep." Tony said sweetly as he layed down next to her.

"Hi Tony." Pepper said as she moved towards him and layed her head on his chest. Tony enveloped Pepper in his arms and kissed her head.

"I wish I could stay." Tony whispered softly in Peppers ear.

"I wish you could too," Pepper whispered back, "but you have work to do for SHIELD. Don't worry I'll be fine."

"I know Pep," Tony said, "I know." Pepper yawned and moved in closer to him."You tired?" he asked her.

"Yeah a little." Pepper answered and yawned again.

"Then go to sleep, love." Tony said smiling. He pulled her close and ran his fingers through her hair as she fell asleep.

When Pepper woke up, she found a note lying next to her. She picked it up and read it aloud. "Good morning Pepper. I hope you slept well. I will call you when I can. Love, Tony." Just then the phone rang.

"Hello?" Pepper asked. "Hey Pep!" Tony replied, "How did you sleep?"

"Great knowing that I was safe in your arms," Pepper answered, "I miss you already Tony."

"I miss you too Pepper," he said, "More than you can imagine."

"You won't be gone too long will you?" Pepper asked.

"I'm hoping that I won't be gone for more than a week." Tony said. In the background Pepper could hear Fury yelling "Stark! Suit Up!"

"Tony you should probably go." Pepper told him.

"I guess," He said, "I'll call you as soon as we get back." Pepper sighed as Tony hung up.

"He's going to be ok," Pepper told herself, "I know he will be."

Meanwhile, Tony was suiting up at SHIELD Headquarters. "Stark!" Fury yelled, "Are you ready yet? We have to go!"

"I just got off the phone with Pepper!" Tony yelled back, "Wait... I have an idea… how about you and I switch places... you suit up while I stand around yelling at everybody!"

"Tony calm down," Bruce said, "we are all very stressed but we need to work together." Tony turned swiftly on his feet to look at Bruce.

"Banner's right," Fury said, "we can't waste time like we did with Loki and the Tesseract."

"Fine but will you at least tell us what we are facing?" Tony asked.

"We are going up against some sort of robot or droid…" Fury answered, "That's why I called you, Tony, you've gone up against stuff like this before. Banner is only here in case we need him…" Fury glanced at Bruce and then continued talking, "there will also probably be guys on the ground. Agent Romanoff should be able to take care of them but if not, we have Agent Barton on the rooftops."

"What about Steve?" Tony asked, "Did you let him stay home?" he glared at Fury.

"No Stark!" Fury barked at him, "I sent Rogers on a different mission."

"Yes," Tony said sarcastically, "because Captain Spangles can handle his own mission."

"Um... guys?" Bruce interrupted, "aren't we supposed to be going?"

"Right," Fury said, "let's go." They all hopped on the plane.

"So where are we headed?" Tony asked.

"Vancouver, Canada," Fury replied, "That's where the robots and droids are headed as of now."

"What do you mean as of now?" Tony asked.

"I mean they could change direction at any time." Fury said.

"If they could change direction at any given moment," Tony asked, "then why aren't we tracking them?"

"Stark!" Fury yelled at him, "don't you think that if there was a way to track them I would have thought of it?!"

"No! I don't! You never think beyond the tactics of war! We could have outsmarted the people controlling the robots and droids!" Tony yelled.

"Guys!" Bruce screamed, "We need to focus on the task at hand! Like Fury said, we can't waste time… especially fighting!" all eyes moved to look at Bruce with concern.

"Geez Banner," Tony said, "calm down."

"I am calm!" Bruce screamed.

"Bruce…" Natasha put her hand on his shoulder and looked at him, "please stay calm…" Bruce stood up, walked away, and sat down by himself.

"Um… alright then," Fury said, "we're almost there so… suit up."

Back at Stark Tower, Pepper was managing getting around. "JARVIS?" Pepper asked, "Is there any way to track where Tony is and what is happening?"

"Well... um... yes." JARVIS replied, "But I don't think that's a very good Idea."

"Why not," Pepper asked. "Well it will probably just worry you more." JARVIS replied.

"I guess you're right," Pepper said, "I just wish I knew where he was going."

"Don't worry, Pepper, he will be fine," JARVIS stated, "Besides, you need to focus on feeling better."

"I know," Pepper said, "But I'm just really worried about Tony." She slowly got out of bed and limped over to the stairs. "Great," Pepper said sarcastically, "stairs." She hobbled down the stairs but about half way, her foot got caught on a stair and she tumbled head first down the rest of the way. She landed with a thud. "oww." Pepper groaned.


	2. Chapter 2

**This thought just randomly popped into my head and i went with it. I hope you guys like it and let me know what you think :) (i did some research and its pretty accurate so.. yeah!)**

Pepper crawled over to the desk and attempted to get up using the drawer handles to inch her way to her feet. There was a knock on the door and she jumped at the sudden noise. "Who is it?" she asked.

"It's Rhodes" he replied.

"Rhodey!" Pepper said relieved, "come in you know the code." She heard a click as the door unlocked.

Rhodey walked over to her with a look of concern on his face when he saw her leg. "Pepper what happened?" he asked.

"Oh," she laughed, "I just fell down the stairs a few days ago."

"Well at least it wasn't worse." Rhodey smiled but his expression went back to concern as Pepper held her hand to her head and tried to keep her balance. Rhodey ran over and caught her before she fell and carried her over to the couch. "Pepper are you feeling ok?" he asked.

"I just got a little dizzy that's all." She responded. Pepper attempted to get up and immediately her face went ghostly pale and she fell back onto the couch.

"You stay here and don't move," Rhodey said, "I'll be right back." He rushed into the kitchen and came back a moment later carrying a damp cloth. He laid it on Pepper's forehead and sat down by her.

"Rhodey I don't need this," she said, "you're just like Tony, always trying to fix everything."

"I guess," Rhodey forced a laugh, "so what's going on? Are you getting over a sickness or something?"

"What?" Pepper asked confused.

"Well you can't stand or even sit up without your face becoming ghostly pale and you getting dizzy." Rhodey replied.

"oh well its probably just that I fell down the stairs again before you got here," Pepper laughed a little, "my mind is probably just trying to determine which way is up."

"You should probably stop using the stairs then." Rhodey looked at Pepper trying to figure out if that was why she was dizzy. "Should I call Tony?" he asked, "where is Tony anyways?"

"No don't call him," Pepper said, "he's off doing something for Fury… I don't want to worry him."

"Fine but I need to stay here until I know that you're better." Rhodey said.

"Why?" Pepper asked.

"because," he replied, "Tony made me promise when we were fighting the Hammer Drones that if anything were to happen to you when he wasn't there that I would make sure to do what I could to help."

"That's sweet but I'm feeling perfectly fine," Pepper smiled and stood up slowly. "See?" she started limping towards the kitchen dragging her casted leg behind her. She reached the counter and, feeling dizzy again, leaned on it for support. "Rhodey…" Pepper said weakly. He got the message right away and rushed over to help her move back to the couch. Once she was on the couch again, he put the cloth back on her forehead.

"Pepper stop trying to move," Rhodey said, "am I allowed to call Tony now?" Pepper nodded slowly.

They were just getting off the plane when Tony's phone started buzzing. He looked at it and saw that Pepper was calling. He looked to make sure that Fury wasn't around and answered it. "Hey Pep..." Tony said.

"It's Rhodes," Rhodey interrupted, "Rhodey? Why are you using Peppers phone? Did something happen?" Tony's voice was frantic.

"No... Well... I guess..."

"Rhodey what happened?"

"Ok well um Pepper can't exactly stand or sit up without feeling dizzy and her face becomes ghostly pale whenever she tries," Rhodey explained, "and I know she doesn't want to say anything to keep you from your work but I can tell that she needs you here."

"I'll try to talk to Fury and I'll be there as soon as possible." Tony said then hung up. Fury was yelling at everyone (as usual). "back on the plane"

"what? Why?" Tony asked, "We need to hurry this up so I can get back home!"

"And that's exactly where we're going" Fury replied.

"What do you mean?" Tony's voice had a dark tone to it.

"The situation has moved to very low threat watch so we are headed back." Fury said.

"Why is it a low threat now?" Natasha asked.

Tony was glaring at Fury. "Yeah Fury," Tony said through gritted teeth, "why was the status of the situation demoted."

"The robots and droids self destructed. Turns out the Geniuses controlling them weren't actually geniuses."

Tony lost any control he had over himself. "So I had to leave Pepper because of a low threat?!"

"Tony calm down," Natasha said trying to be comforting, "I'm sure she's perfectly fine."

"No she's not!" Tony yelled. "I just got a call from Rhodey... She's sick and he doesn't know what's wrong..."

"Tony?" Bruce asked.

"What Banner?!"

"Did the symptoms just appear?"

"As far as I know... yes." Tony replied.

"What were the symptoms exactly?" Bruce asked.

"She can't stand or sit up without passing out. Why are you asking?"

"Well I uh I might know what's wrong" Bruce said and started shuffling his feet.

"Get to the tower as soon as possible." Tony demanded. He opened the suitcase that he always had with him and his suit immediately started covering him. "Hurry." Tony said as the front of the mask locked into place.

"Stark!" Fury yelled.

"Nick, let him go" Natasha said firmly. Tony flew into the air and zoomed away.

"Natasha we have to hurry," Bruce said worriedly, "if it's what I think it is... We better hope it's a stage one case."

"What do you think it is?" Natasha asked as she rushed to the Quinjet. Bruce ignored her and thought about what he could do for Pepper when he got there. They all boarded the plane and rushed back to Headquarters.

Rhodey heard a thud on the roof and sighed relieved that Tony was home. "Pepper? Pepper I'm home." Tony yelled as the pieces of his suit were taken off one by one. He rushed down the stairs and ran into the room.

"Tony." Pepper said but her words were cut off by a wave of nausea and she threw up in a bucket that Rhodey had put by the couch.

"Banner's going to be here as soon as he can. He thinks he knows what's wrong." Tony said.

Pepper watched him as he went over and sat next to her. "Thanks." She said.

"Well I should probably get going," Rhodey said, "I hope you feel better Pepper and Tony, keep me updated."

"Of course. And thanks... A lot... I owe you one."

"No problem Tony" Rhodey smiled and walked out the door. Pepper laid her head against the arm of the couch.

"How're you feeling?" Tony asked.

"Awful," She replied, "I was feeling fine yesterday but I... I don't know." She shifted uncomfortably on the couch.

"Do you want to go to bed?" Tony asked.

"Yeah..." Pepper started to get up but before she could, Tony picked her up and was carrying her upstairs. He laid her on the bed and sat down next to her.

"I'm so sorry I left..." he said and looked down.

"It's not your fault that Fury was being demanding" Pepper said.

"Sir Dr. Banner has arrived," Jarvis said, "shall I let him in?"

"Yes." Tony said.

"Could you tell him to get another bucket too?" Pepper asked.

"I'll get it, just stay here." Tony replied. He walked downstairs and saw Bruce. "Hey Bruce! She's upstairs."

"Great," He replied, "so uh why are you down here?"

"She needs another bucket." Tony said

"Bucket?" Bruce asked

"Yeah. She's been throwing up." Tony grabbed one of the buckets that he had used to keep spare metal pieces in, dumped it out and headed upstairs with Bruce right behind him.

"Hey Pepper," Bruce said as they entered the room, "how're you doing?"

"Ok I guess." She replied.

"How's your leg?"

"Fine. The cast you guys built works really well." Her face became flushed and she reached for the bucket. After throwing up violently, she handed the bucket to Tony.

"Gee thanks." He said and went to go clean it.

"Better get to the point… I have one question that either will confirm or disprove my theory of what is going on," Bruce said as he walked over and put his hand on her forehead to check for a fever. "Have you been to South America lately?"

"Well last week we stopped in Belize I think to refill the plane fuel... Why?" Pepper said as she kicked off the blankets.

"Were there a lot of mosquitoes?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah I got awful bites from a few." She replied.

"Great..." Bruce said under his breath.

Tony walked back and gave the bucket to Pepper "so? What's going on?" He asked.

"She has Yellow fever..." Bruce replied, "But it seems like a stage one case so it should go away within a few days but I'd like to stay and make sure it doesn't worsen if that's ok with you."

"Yes." Tony replied almost instantly, "you can sleep in the guest bedroom next to ours."

"Thanks," Bruce said, "oh and Tony, you should get an ice pack we don't want her fever to get any worse."

"Right." Tony said and he rushed downstairs and was back in a matter of seconds holding an ice pack. He placed it on Peppers forehead and went to lead Bruce to his room.

Pepper laid her head back on the pillow and sighed holding her head. "Pepper what's wrong?" Tony asked from the doorway.

"I just have a splitting headache." She replied as he walked over and layed down next to her.

"I'm so sorry that all this happened and I wasn't here." Tony said looking down.

Pepper lifted his head up so she could look at him. "It's not your fault," she said, "I'm just glad you're here now."

Tony put his arms around her and pulled her close. "You need to get some sleep." He said and kissed her head.

"I know." Pepper replied as she snuggled close to Tony and fell asleep.

Tony couldn't get to sleep that night. He kept glancing over at Pepper worried that something else would happen. A few times during the night, Pepper would cough and Tony would stare at her with wide eyes prepared for the worst. But she would just fall back asleep. When morning finally came Tony slowly got out of bed being careful not to wake Pepper and headed downstairs. When he got downstairs he found Bruce reading the newspaper and drinking coffee.

Bruce looked up from his paper and smiled at Tony. "How'd you sleep?" he asked.

Tony poured himself some coffee and shrugged. "ok I guess," He responded and yawned, "I couldn't stop worrying about Pepper."

Bruce frowned and looked at Tony. "why don't you go take a nap in one of the guest bedrooms and I'll watch Pepper."

"thanks Bruce," Tony sighed, "I totally owe you." He headed upstairs to an empty room and collapsed onto the bed falling asleep immediately.

Bruce grabbed his paper and coffee, went into where Pepper was sleeping, and sat down in a chair. After about half an hour, Pepper started kicking off blankets and shaking violently. Bruce ran over to her and held her down so that she didn't knock anything over or fall off the bed. "Tony!" he yelled. Tony came running in eyes wide with panic. "Hold her." he instructed. Tony held Pepper tight in his arms as Bruce ran into his room to get his medical supplies. He came back and pulled a needle with some sort of liquid in it out of his bag and grabbed Pepper's arm. He found a vein and injected the medicine into her. She stopped convulsing and went limp in Tony's arms. "what'd you do Bruce?" he asked quietly. "it's a medicine that stops seizures," Bruce responded, "she'll be fine when she wakes up." Tony couldn't hold it in anymore. "I can't lose her Bruce!" Tony cried, "She's all I have!" "Tony calm down," Bruce said calmly, "things always get worse before they get better."


End file.
